


Attention to Detail

by Gallicenae



Series: Misc Fic Gifts [7]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Camping, F/M, Fluff, Solavellan, da ficswap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-21 00:36:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11932665
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gallicenae/pseuds/Gallicenae
Summary: A soft and quiet moment between Kira Lavellan and Solas.





	Attention to Detail

**Author's Note:**

> Ficswap for thunderbirdhouse on tumblr.

The Storm Coast wasn’t exactly the cheeriest place in all of Thedas, but their new camp in the valley was peaceful. More importantly, it was out of the wind. The rain showers were so light they could generally be ignored, never lasting long enough to soak through the party’s gear. Everyone was wrapped around the campfire keeping their hands busy as one after the other exchanged stories. It had become something of a tradition by now, Bull favoring ghost stories he’d picked up in his travels and Cassandra providing them with stiff rhetoric on Nevarran customs or sword techniques. Kira didn’t mind either, but she preferred the tales Solas told, the ones that were seen through his memories. His voice was what drew her in, his tone always even and smooth, calming and patient. Kira had never heard anything like it before they’d met, and now it was as if she could never get enough.

Kira sat away from the others, watching them from a short distance so she would have a better perspective and a small measure of privacy. Her collection of sketches was open in her lap, and she thumbed leisurely through it until she reached the well-worn pages in the back. Rough pastels and charcoal portraits covered the paper, drawn with far more focus and detail than any of Kira’s other sketches. She felt her cheeks warm at the familiar face and smiled to herself as she picked up a thin piece of charcoal.

“… then the dwarves reached the surface, the natural rock formations giving way to the sea. It was a wonder to them then, a sea that clung to the earth as they did.”

Solas paused, his audience riveted by the description of dwarven ruins along the coast. Kira traced over the lines of his profile with a reverent hand, sliding along his jawline as Solas continued the tale. Her strokes moved with the cadence of his words, curving over his brow before sliding down the bridge of his nose. She lingered on his lips, their fullness not as evident on paper as she knew them to be in life.

“Hey, those are pretty good!”

Kira jumped at Bull’s intrusion over her shoulder, dropping the stick of charcoal in her hand. He leaned in to get a better look in the dim light.

“Don’t forget to add that little cleft in his chin. It’s my favorite.”

“Your favorite?”

“Oh yeah, but I can see you’re more of a lips kind of girl.” Bull gave Kira a wry smirk and nudged her shoulder. “What about me?”

“What about you, Bull?”

He turned and gave her a pose, holding his chin up in the air as he flexed his muscles. “Can’t beat a fine specimen such as myself. You wouldn’t even have to sneak glances at me.”

“Maybe I like sneaking glances.”

Bull chuckled. “Alright. Maybe you do, but my offer still stands.”

—

Kira adjusted the logs in the fire, adding fresh branches before she sat down next to Solas.

“You were gone a while.”

Kira opened her sketchbook. “Bull insisted on a perimeter check while we were out collecting more wood for the fire.”

“And you brought back some plants as well?”

She nodded, pulling the samples she’d collected out of her bag. Solas had noticed some time ago that Kira would pick up flora she was unfamiliar with to add them to her drawings. He’d only made a comment or two in passing before Kira decided to finally show him her work. The details were all there, the shape and angle of the leaves, color and thickness of the stems, and descriptions of where she had found each and every one.

“Tell me another of your stories, Solas.”

“Another?”

Kira heard the smile in his voice, and she made a note to return to his page in her book and draw him with one.

“Which would you like to hear this time?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Mm. I see.”

Solas took his time with the telling, watching the fire quiet down with every weighted pause and nostalgic expression. The scouts had traded rounds, and Bull and Cassandra had turned in for the night. Mist had begun to settle in the valley when he felt Kira’s head lean against his shoulder. He did not stop recounting his memories from the Fade, hoping it would keep Kira from noticing how brilliantly aware of her touch he actually was.

The fire had burned to embers when Solas finally chanced a look at the Inquisitor. She was asleep against him, her sketchbook open on her lap. Kira’s drawings impressed him, and he loved that she was so eager to put to paper all she saw. He gently pulled the book to his own lap, turning the pages to examine her sketches in private. There were still plenty of pages for her to fill, but Solas noticed a great many smudge marks on the edges toward the back of the book. His fingers turned to them with curiosity.

How many nights had she sat away from him making these, looking at him from afar? These drawings weren’t like the rest, weren’t like the portraits Kira made of their other companions. These were focused and deliberate. Each one resonated with a desire Solas couldn’t quite believe, a care he hadn’t quite noticed until now.

He closed the book quietly and returned it to Kira’s side, a small smile on his face. He would need to wake her up and move her to the tents, but for now, Solas was content to listen to the rise and fall of her breathing next to him. He gingerly moved his arm and settled it around Kira’s shoulder, drawing her in softly so that his lips might touch her forehead under the cover of night.


End file.
